Opening up trade with China hasn't helped human rights, say activists

[maddogchen]

Canada's 10-year preoccupation with trade as a means of fixing human rights abuses has been a dismal failure, human rights activists said Thursday.

They called on Prime Minister Paul Martin to take a firmer stand when he visits China during his Asian tour next week. "We cannot leave human rights simply to the whim of market forces," Alex Neve, head of Amnesty International Canada, told a news conference. "To have pursued that as almost the solitary approach to how human rights were going to be raised and advanced in the Canada-China relationship was inadequate."

A coalition of non-governmental advocates say Martin has a unique chance to correct a failed foreign policy on his first official visit to Beijing as prime minister.

Martin departs early Saturday on a diplomatic mission to Thailand, Sir Lanka, India, Japan and China.

The fast-growing Chinese economy and its hunger for raw materials and resource expertise give Canada leverage it must use, the activists said, especially given China's new-found interest in currying foreign favour in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics.

Those forces have done nothing yet to end the Chinese government's abuse of rights and the rule of law, said Tenzig Dargyal of the Canada Tibet Committee.

Last spring, Martin became the first Canadian prime minister to meet with the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader who has been outlawed by Beijing. The meeting earned Martin lavish praise from the Tibetan expatriate community and angered Chinese authorities.

Senior government officials say Martin will encourage exploratory talks between the Dalai Lama's emissaries and Beijing when he meets Chinese Premier Wen Jiaboa next Friday, a development Dargyal welcomes.

"But at the same time, the overall situation is more negative than positive, unfortunately," said Dargyal. "In our case we are not seeing this policy of (economic) engagement producing more positive news."

Through a series of Team Canada trade missions in the 1990s, the Liberal government of Jean Chretien stressed global trade and open investment as the road to human rights reforms.

"There's nothing as nervous as a million dollars," Chretien liked to say, arguing that investors fleeing corrupt and lawless societies are a powerful incentive for change.

China's entry in 2001 into the World Trade Organization (news - web sites) was also considered a likely key development in reforming the country.

But many Chinese rights groups say nothing has changed.

Martin's officials signalled a subtle shift in emphasis in a background briefing this week, stressing that human rights issues will be tackled through broad-based engagement with Chinese professionals and development projects.

"By reaching out to them and giving them the experience to meet with Canadian counterparts, you begin to build a degree of awareness and interest that wasn't there before," said one official.

"The legal system hasn't been allowed to develop as it should, so what we're trying to do is encourage that development one person at a time . . . . There are growing aspirations for change, and we're helping to meet that."

Human rights activists would like something a little more robust from Martin.

They are looking for blunt talk, specific proposals for institutional reform, measurable benchmarks, more international oversight and a linkage between investment and improved human rights.

Trade remains at the forefront of the prime minister's latest diplomatic foray.

Officials said "significant commercial deals" will be formally signed during the nine-day excursion. International Trade Minister Jim Peterson leads a delegation of Canadian business leaders to China that will coincide with Martin's stay.

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[CanOWorms]

I like how they think that Canada would not only actually emphasize human rights over trade, but that they would even be able to influence such a major country.

 

[Grunt03]

all I can say is they make pretty good toys...........😀

 

[illustri]

my question would be do you think free trade raises the quality of life?

/i can stand the water torture better if I have a ipod mini to listen to

 

[Infohawk]

Human rights was never a real concern for the West. It was a strategic decision. They didn't want other people to trade with China and be left out. Of course all the people who are all of a sudden so concerned about Saddam's crimes couldn't give a flying leap about what goes on in China.

Edit: I have noticed that free trade has created a nice group of obnoxious Chinese upstart social darwinists. Money without _any_ class... ugh.

 

[maddogchen]

TORONTO (AFP) - Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin demanded answers from China after Beijing revoked the visas of two Toronto-based Chinese reporters before they were to cover his visit to the Chinese capital.

Journalists David Ien and Danielle Zhu from Chinese-language broadcaster New Tang Dynasty TV (NTDTV) were due to join Martin's press corps in Japan for a flight into China next week on the last leg of his Asian tour.

But their visas, originally issued by the Chinese embassy in Ottawa were withdrawn, the channel's president Joe Wang told AFP.

"This is a very serious issue, in this country, we believe fully in freedom of the press," Martin said, adding that he had asked the Chinese embassy in Ottawa and the government in Beijing for an explanation.

"We continue to ask the government that the visas be accepted and these journalists be allowed to accompany us on the visit," Martin told reporters in Ottawa hours before embarking on a five-nation Asian tour.

Martin is due to hold talks with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao during the January 20-23 visit, which is largely devoted to a thrust for stronger trade ties between Ottawa and Beijing.

Wang said he suspected that the visas were revoked because his station beams news into China by satellite, covering issues like human rights and the crackdown on the Falungong spiritual movement.

"We have got no official explanation," he said, but added, it was "no secret" that China's government disliked the station for its coverage. "We don't shy away from these issues."

A number of Falungong practitioners work at the station voluntarily, Wang said, but insisted they did not compromise the channel's claim to independence.

The Chinese embassy in Ottawa also did not immediately respond to calls for comment.

The case was thought to be the first of its kind involving a Canadian Prime Minister's visit to China.

But it has parallels in the United States. In 1998, China refused to allow three Radio Free Asia journalists to accompany then president Bill Clinton (news - web sites) on a trip to China.

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More of the same from China.

 

[maddogchen]

BEIJING - China remains "highly repressive," with routine violations of basic rights and widespread corruption despite promises of legal and political reform, the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch said Friday.

The one-party communist government has taken steps to improve its legal system but still prohibits independent labor unions and religious groups, censors the press and interferes in court cases, the group said in an annual report.

"While China has made progress in some areas in recent years ... it remains a highly repressive state," the report said.

The report highlighted widespread complaints of continued abuses despite Chinese pledges of reform. Communist leaders amended the nation's constitution last year to declare respect for human rights and hold regular dialogues with the United States and European governments, but activists say such contacts have accomplished little.

Human Rights Watch complained of a "culture of impunity" for abusive officials and said a justice system that relies heavily on confessions leads police to torture suspects.

The report said that in its campaign against separatists in its northwestern Muslim region of Xinjiang, China also has tried to crush peaceful dissent. It said the campaign is marked by "systematic human rights violations including arbitrary arrests, closed trials and extensive use of the death penalty."

Human Rights Watch welcomed promises last year by communist leaders to reform the ruling party's internal workings and to promote the rule of law. But it said that such commitments have "been compromised by continuing widespread official corruption (and) party interference in the justice system."

And though the government allows more independent news reporting, it tightened controls last year on the Internet and other media, expanding a list of topics for censorship and banning reporting on rural land seizures, the report said.

Human Rights Watch also complained of abuses against Chinese workers and residents who are evicted for real estate development.

Workers "have yet to reap the benefits" of China's two decades of economic boom due to lack of enforcement of safety and wage laws, the report said. It noted that many areas of the country have seen huge labor protests.

The group urged the United States and other governments that hold human rights dialogues with China to set specific goals for improvement and a timetable for achieving them.

Edit: Text

Whoops hit wrong button.
Anyway a bit more of the same from China.
I was waiting for a report since the Human Rights Watch had reported Sudan and the US yesterday. The US also releases a report of human rights around the world and sometimes it lashes out at China and sometimes it doesn't, depending on the political climate I guess. But its sad to see that in recent years China now has a lot of ammo (from US abuses) to shoot back with.

 

[RabidMongoose]

How nice and easy for Canada. "We'll trade with you and we expect that to make your human rights better"...suuuuuuure.

 

[ReiAyanami]

I think the point was to highlight how importing capitalism has failed to improve their human rights.

 

[maddogchen]

Originally posted by: ReiAyanami
I think the point was to highlight how importing capitalism has failed to improve their human rights.

yes, and I also like to add that that I wonder why we haven't heard much of the same from any other country besides Canada? I remember years ago I heard US supporters of opening up trade with China claiming the same things, but why haven't I heard anything from them lately? Shouldn't they be upset that what they wished had happened didn't? Probably too busy raking in the dough from their business deals in China.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
How nice and easy for Canada. "We'll trade with you and we expect that to make your human rights better"...suuuuuuure.

Uh... that's been a worldwide 'theory' for more than a decade now. I'm not a supporter of simply ignoring human rights abuses (i.e. I think Canada's policy is wrong here) but this has little to do with only one country choosing profitable trade over social conscience.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie

Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
How nice and easy for Canada. "We'll trade with you and we expect that to make your human rights better"...suuuuuuure.

Uh... that's been a worldwide 'theory' for more than a decade now. I'm not a supporter of simply ignoring human rights abuses (i.e. I think Canada's policy is wrong here) but this has little to do with only one country choosing profitable trade over social conscience.

Yup, all Western Nations more or less believed the same thing.

I would like Canada to take the Moral Stand on this issue, but I won't hold my breath. Exports to China are growing and helping diversify Trading Partners. On the News last week was a story of a Canadian Construction company that was building whole Suburbia type towns in China. They were expecting to be doing so for many years as the demand for such housing was massive. It is quite possible that China will become as important to Canada as the US, especially if the US keeps dicking around on Trade Issues.

That said, the Free World needs a Moral Authority that acts Morally. Not some Self Proclaimed Moral Authority that acts Immorally. Canada can't quite do that, but it can carry some of the Moral Burden and with other Progressive countries like Norway, Sweden, and Others. To bring a collective Morality where each part brings forth, campaigns, and helps implement Moral Actions/Policy. If not by Unilateral Action(which would be useless in this case), then at least we should begin to raise the Issue amongst Friends, Allies, and in the Public Eye in order to start a movement.

 

[RabidMongoose]

It is quite possible that China will become as important to Canada as the US, especially if the US keeps dicking around on Trade Issues.

Possible, but not very likely any time soon. Canada is far too dependent upon the United States right now and I don't see that changing soon.

That said, the Free World needs a Moral Authority that acts Morally. Not some Self Proclaimed Moral Authority that acts Immorally. Canada can't quite do that, but it can carry some of the Moral Burden and with other Progressive countries like Norway, Sweden, and Others. To bring a collective Morality where each part brings forth, campaigns, and helps implement Moral Actions/Policy.

That assumes that countries such as Canada, Norway, Sweden, and others are moral countries. They most certainly are not.

 

[Freejack2]

Bleh, it's all just talk. They know you can't have your cheap made in China stuff unless they are only paying the laborers 13 cents an hour. If you give the workers rights, pretty soon they start forming unions and demanding $6 an hour wages. You can't have your cheap WalMart crap and human rights in China. Personally I'd like to see human rights win out, but the people with the money don't want that, so it's not going to happen.